Romanian witch

Classification

Distinctions

Appearances

Book(s)

Contents

Description

A Romanian witch is a type of witch that use animism magic, draining their victims of life-force.They, like shamans, have the unique power to project their souls outside their body. Also, they do not live in clans and worship the Old God, Siscoi.

Differences to other witches

What sets these witches apart from those in other parts of the world is twofold:

1. The ability to project their souls far from their bodies while they sleep. These meet up with other souls in forest dells, taking the form of small orbs of flickering light that move together rhythmically in a dance. These disembodied covens are not always thirteen strong, which is usual elsewhere, but they are always odd in number, most frequently dancing in sevens, nines, or elevens.

2. If humans see the moving lights, they are drawn toward them and are soon in thrall to the witches. When the dance ends, the humans die, the witches having gradually absorbed their vitality.

Romanian witches use animism magic; which means that rather than using blood or bone magic they draw out the life essence of their victims and use it, along with rituals and incantations, to gather power from the dark.

Worship

They worship Siscoi, the Romanian Old God, and have the power to bring him through a portal into our world at midnight—though he can stay only until dawn. They also form alliances with strigoi and strigoica, vampire demons, and can control Transylvanian elementals known as the moroi as an aid to draining humans of their life force.

Powers and abilities

The dark magical power gained is used primarily for the following:

1. To summon their vampire god, Siscoi, from the dark.

2. To kill their enemies.

3. To scry the future.

4. To control the humans who live within their chosen domain.

5. To gather wealth.

Personality and other information

Romanian witches are very rich and live alone in big, isolated dwellings. They do not form clans, and the only time they meet is when they send forth their souls to combine temporarily in covens.

Animism magic

This type of magic is also practiced by the category of mages known as shamans, but its strongest adherents are the Romanian witches. They feed upon the animus, the life essence of a creature. This is not its soul; it is the vitality or energy that animates body and mind. They do not take blood but draw the animus forth directly by use of willpower and incantations, sometimes over many weeks or months. The body of the victim becomes gray and wrinkled and withers until the skin is like dry parchment over the brittle bones. Sometimes, in the later stages, the victim appears dead but still walks. He breathes and his heart beats feebly, but his eyes are unseeing and he cannot speak. At that stage, death is very close.

Very occasionally, when seven or more witches are gathered together, the victim drops dead within seconds. Again, the feeding is accompanied by exertion of the group willpower and incantations. Romanian witches never write down any of their spells; they are passed through the generations and learned by heart.